Vincenzo Ferdinandi (29 November 1920 - 22 April 1990) was an Italian designer among the founders of Italian
haute couture
(; ; French for 'high sewing', 'high dressmaking') is the creation of exclusive custom-fitted high-end fashion design. The term ''haute couture'' generally refers to a specific type of upper garment common in Europe during the 16th to the ...
.
Biography
Born in the United States, he moved to Italy in the early 1950s to open an atelier in Rome in the fashionable
Via Veneto
Via Vittorio Veneto (), colloquially called Via Veneto, is one of the most famous, elegant, and expensive streets of Rome, Italy. The street is named after the Battle of Vittorio Veneto (1918), a decisive Italian victory of World War I. Federico F ...
.
He was among the first great haute couture designers to compete with the French in the international arena. In 1949 he was in Paris, called by
Christian Dior
Christian Ernest Dior (; 21 January 1905 – 24 October 1957) was a French fashion designer and founder of one of the world's top fashion houses, Dior, Christian Dior SE. His fashion house is known all around the world, having gained promi ...
for a stylistic collaboration with the French maison. After that experience, London also called him to design a line of shoes that he completed with creativity and all-Italian creativity.
Together with other names of the Italian fashion of the time such as
Roberto Capucci, the
Sartoria Antonelli, the atelier Carosa, Giovannelli-Sciarra,
Germana Marucelli, Polinober, the Sartoria Vanna and
Jole Veneziani, he participated in 1952 in the first historical parade at the Sala Bianca in
Palazzo Pitti
The Palazzo Pitti (), in English sometimes called the Pitti Palace, is a vast, mainly Renaissance, palace in Florence, Italy. It is situated on the south side of the River Arno, a short distance from the Ponte Vecchio. The core of the present ...
in
Florence
Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025.
Florence ...
. A very young
Oriana Fallaci
Oriana Fallaci (; 29 June 1929 – 15 September 2006) was an Italian journalist and author. A member of the Italian resistance movement during World War II, she had a long and successful journalistic career. Fallaci became famous worldwide for h ...
sent by the weekly
''Epoca'' told the news
In 1953, together with other major names of the time (including
Emilio Schuberth
Emilio Federico Schuberth (1904–1972) was an Italian fashion designer, popular in the 1940s and 1950s. Schuberth was called the "tailor of the stars", and his work was loved by many international celebrities like Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiari, P ...
, the
Sorelle Fontana
Sorelle Fontana (literally "Fontana Sisters", also known as "Sorelle Fontana, Alta Moda SRL") is an Italian fashion house, specializing in production of high-fashion couture.
It was founded in Rome in 1943 by three sisters and Italian designers: ...
, Alberto Fabiani, Jole Veneziani, Giovannelli-Sciarra, Mingolini-Guggenheim, Eleonora Garnett, Simonetta), he founded the SIAM -
Italian High Fashion Syndicate (later to become the
National Chamber of Italian Fashion
Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana (often translated to ''National Chamber for Italian Fashion'' or ''Italian Fashion Council'' in English) is a non-profit organization, whose purpose is the promotion, coordination of the Italian fashion ind ...
).
In July 1954, together with the Sorelle Fontana, Emilio Schuberth, Giovannelli Sciarra, Garnett and Mingolini-Guggenheim he took part in "Alta Moda in
Castel Sant'Angelo
Castel Sant'Angelo ( ), also known as Mausoleum of Hadrian (), is a towering rotunda (cylindrical building) in Parco Adriano, Rome, Italy. It was initially commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum for himself and his family. ...
".
On that occasion, the American
Sally Kirkland
Sally Kirkland Jr. (born October 31, 1941) is an American actress and producer. A former member of Andy Warhol's The Factory and an active member in 1960s New York avant-garde theater, she has appeared in more than 250 film and television produ ...
, Fashion Editor of
Life
Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...
and of
Vogue
Vogue may refer to:
Business
* ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine
** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine
** '' Vogue Adria'', a fashion magazine for former Yugoslav countries
** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine
** ' ...
, was awarded for her role as ambassador of Italian fashion in the United States.
His creations are worn by actresses and famous women of those years.
Jennifer Jones
Jennifer Jones (born Phylis Lee Isley; March 2, 1919 – December 17, 2009), also known as Jennifer Jones Simon, was an American actress and mental-health advocate. Over the course of her career that spanned more than five decades, she was nomin ...
,
May Britt
May Britt (born May Britt Wilkens; 22 March 1934) is a Swedish former actress who had a brief career in the 1950s in Italy and later in the United States. She was married to American entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. from 1960 to 1968.
Career
Bri ...
,
Virna Lisi
Virna Lisa Pieralisi (; 8 November 1936 – 18 December 2014), known as just Virna Lisi, was an Italian actress. Her international film appearances included ''How to Murder Your Wife'' (1965), ''Not with My Wife, You Don't!'' (1966), ''The Secre ...
,
Sylva Koscina
Sylva Koscina (; born Silvija Košćina, ; 22 August 1933 – 26 December 1994) was a Yugoslav-born Italian actress, best known for her role as Iole, the bride of Hercules ( Steve Reeves) in ''Hercules'' (1958) and '' Hercules Unchained'' (196 ...
,
Isabella Albonico
Isabella may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Isabella (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
* Isabella (surname), including a list of people
Places
United States
* Isabella, Alabama, an unincorpor ...
,
Eloisa Cianni
Eloisa Cianni (23 June 1932 – 27 May 2022) was an Italian actress, model and beauty pageant
A beauty pageant is a competition in which the contestants are judged and ranked based on various physical and mental attributes. Per its name, bea ...
,
Lucia Bosè
Lucia Bosè (28 January 1931 – 23 March 2020) was an Italian actress.
Life and career
Lucia Bosè was born in Milan to Francesca Borloni and Domenico Bosè. After a number of years working in a bakery, Pasticceria Galli, in her native city, ...
, Lilli Cerasoli,
Ivy Nicholson
Ivy Nicholson (February 22, 1933 – October 25, 2021) was an American Model (person), model and Actor, actress.
Early life
"Born to a humble working-class family," as reported by the ''World'' magazine, Nicholson grew up in East New York, Broo ...
, Loredana Pavone, Joe Patterson, Anna Maria Ghislanzoni, Marta Marzotto and a very young
Elsa Martinelli
Elsa Martinelli (born Elisa Tia; 30 January 1935 – 8 July 2017) was an Italian actress and fashion model. Described by ''The Guardian'' as a "versatile star of Hollywood’s international years whose work spanned romantic comedies, period epi ...
are some of these
References
Further reading
*
*
*
External links
Ferdinandi Alta Moda
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferdinandi, Vincenzo
1920 births
1990 deaths
Fashion designers from Rome
People from Newark, New Jersey
American emigrants to Italy